


Stand By Her

by starrynebula



Category: Nurses (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:42:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29825823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrynebula/pseuds/starrynebula
Summary: Dr. Evan Wallace had been infatuated by Grace from the moment he first met her. However, it hadn't taken him long to figure out that something from her past was making her hesitant around him. He had told himself to be patient. To get to know her and let things go from there. When the truth about Grace's past breaks, Evan knows that he either stands by her now or risks losing her forever. Starts between the episode of "Mirror Box" and "Lady Business" but continues after season 1.
Relationships: Grace/Evan
Comments: 4





	1. Breaking News

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I'm glad that NBC aired this show (one of the benefits of the pandemic you could say) as I really enjoyed it. Hope I get to see season 2. In the meanwhile, I was hoping to find some fanfic for my favorite pairing, but there doesn't seem to be much fanfic period. So, I'm hoping to start something with this story. I'm not all that active on this site, haven't found the interaction between writer and reader to be what I like about the other site I post on, and I find it more difficult to post here but as the other site doesn't have a category for this show yet, here I am. Hoping that people enjoy this story and this fledging fandom provides a better experience on this site than some of the other fandoms have provided for me.
> 
> If you enjoy this first chapter, please leave a comment. If you see a major mistake, let me know so I can fix it. If you don't like something, feel free to tell me constructively (personal insults don't have a place in a review). If you don't like this pairing, or my writing style, feel free to find something that is more to your liking.
> 
> Please enjoy!

It had been a long, hectic day. His shift that had suppose to end at seven had been extended by a massive traffic accident that had flooded the ER with patients. Several of the patients brought to Saint Mary’s hadn’t made it, including a three year old girl that he had initially treated. The little girl had died in the OR. As the mother was still being treated in the ER for a concussion, broken collar bone, and burns from the airbag, breaking the news to her had fallen to him. Hardly a good way to end an already difficult shift.

Evan had found himself wishing Grace had been there. He knew Grace would have been able to offer that mother some form of comfort that he hadn’t been able too.

However, Grace had been suspended. He had discovered that from Sinead near the end of his shift yesterday. Though he hadn’t completely understood Sinead’s explanation for the suspension which seemed like an overreaction, he hadn’t questioned it. Managing the nurses was not his responsibility.

The ding of his phone told Evan that he had received a text message. Pulling his phone out of his pocket with his left hand while he slid the key into his apartment door with the other, Evan checked who it was from.

_Can I have a rain check on the dancing? Now isn’t a good time for me._

Evan sighed as he stepped into his apartment. He couldn’t say he was surprised. Grace was going through something. That much he could tell. However, she hadn’t confided in him, which was fine. They didn’t know each other well, though he was certainly trying to change that. However, even how the date to go dancing came about seemed strange. The guy might have been getting married but there was a history with Grace and Kabir Pavan. That much he was sure. Part of him had been waiting for Grace to back out even before her suspension.

Pushing his front door closed behind him with his foot, Evan texted her back.

_That’s fine. I will be looking to cash in the rain check. If you want to talk, I’m here._

Pressing send, Evan placed his phone down on the table by the door and locked the front door. Taking his keys out of his pocket, he took off his jacket and hung it up. A ding from his phone indicated a response.

Picking up the phone, he headed for the kitchen. His plan for tonight was to pop a Lean Cuisine in the microwave, take a quick shower, eat and collapse into bed. Looking down at the screen he saw this:

_Thank-you. Let me know if you feel the same way tomorrow._

Evan furrowed his brow at the response. He wasn’t sure what Grace meant by the last bit. What made her think he would feel differently tomorrow. No, he hadn’t been overt in his feelings toward her. Not only had he not wanted to come off as arrogant but he had sensed something vulnerable about Grace despite her strength. He had figured a more subtle approach would benefit him in the long run. Still, Evan was fairly sure most of the hospital knew he was interested in Grace.

Deciding this wasn’t a conversation to have via text, Evan simply texted back ‘okay’ before placing his phone on the counter. Selecting a Lean Cuisine out of the freezer, not really caring which one it was, he put it in the microwave and set the time. With his food cooking, Evan headed for his bedroom, picking up the remote and turning on the television on his way by.

In the bedroom, he quickly stripped, showered and put on a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. The morning would be here way to quickly and the only thing keeping him from falling into bed right then was his growling stomach.

Padding back toward the kitchen, Evan caught the names Dr. Thomas Hamiliton and Grace Knight coming over the television. His curiosity piqued, Even went to the television. There on the screen was the breaking headline for tonight - Dr. Thomas Hamilton Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Grace Knight and Noelle Patrick.

Evan sat down on the couch, his eyes stuck to the headline. He wasn’t even really hearing the actual news story though his eyes were still focused on the words on the screen.

His knee jerk reaction was to say it wasn’t true. Evan had trained under Dr. Hamilton and he had learned a lot from the man. At one point during his training he had wanted to be a surgeon like him.

However, Evan’s admiration of the man had only been professional. While he respected the man’s skill and knowledge as a doctor and specifically a surgeon, it had been the man’s personality that had helped change his mind about going into surgery. Dr. Hamilton had been harsh toward everyone. He didn’t tolerate mistakes and gave out very little praise. However, many of the top docotors in their fields were like that. It had been Dr. Hamilton’s belittling of the paramedics, doctors and other staff that worked the ER that had turned Evan off. He had seen those people as beneath him. He viewed even the doctors who worked the ER as people who weren’t good enough to make it in a specific field and so worked the ER so they could hand off the patients to the real doctors.

Dr. Thomas Hamilton, though a skilled surgeon, was also full of himself. If he thought so little of his fellow doctors, then how big of a jump would it be for him to assume he could have his way with any woman he wanted.

Besides, Evan had gotten to know Grace these last few months. Granted, he would like to know her better than he did but she didn’t seem like the type of person to make false accusations about someone. Besides, finding this out seemed to fit it with a lot of things he had noticed about Grace these last few months.

Evan had seen that she was struggling with something, and he had a feeling it had been tied it with why she had been fired at the General. Grace had never answered his question about why she had left the General, which was certainly her right and why he hadn’t pushed the topic. Then there was the fact that she had pushed the needle further into his arm when he had praised Dr. Hamilton. An action that made total sense now. As had the change in Grace when the merger went through and Dr. Hamilton ended up at St. Mary’s. This explained her sudden change of heart in helping with the surgery when Dr. Hamilton had selected Naz to help out. Without saying anything, Grace had simply been trying to protect her fellow nurse. It explained her reaction in the ER when he had started to lower her scrub top after applying the steri strips. It had explained her “I don’t think it’s random” comment when he had told her about the peer reviews.

This breaking news made a lot of things make sense. Though he had wished Grace had been comfortable with him enough to have told him before now, he understood her hesitancy. He also respected her strength at coming forward now when there was no doubt a lot of people, some co-workers, would side against her in this.

_Thank-you. Let me know if you feel the same way tomorrow._

That text made more sense to him now. Evan knew that Grace was anticipating him siding with his fellow doctor. He also knew that it was going to take more than words to convince her otherwise. He was going to have to find a way to show her he was on her side. That he believed her.

Evan wasn’t sure exactly what that would be but he was confident he would figure it out. He had no doubt that an opportunity to show his support would present itself when Grace returned to work.

For now though, he knew what he needed to do to start that process. Getting to his feet, Evan walked to the kitchen where he had left his phone. Picking it up from the counter he simply texted Grace three words.

_I believe you._

Putting his phone back on the counter, Evan retrieved his meal from the microwave. He knew they would be simply empty words to Grace right now but they were a start. His actions in the next few days would be what put meaning to them, and Evan intended that his actions would show her he meant those three words. He might not know how to go about doing that right now, but he was confident he would figure it out.


	2. Proof

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter covers the time frame of the episode "Lady Business". Some dialogue at the end is taken directly from the episode.

Grace sat alone in her apartment. Other than the one lamp by the door, she was sitting in the dark in the living room. She hadn’t bothered to turn on the television. Quinn’s article had been printed today and while printed journalism reached a smaller audience these days than it once had, Grace knew it wouldn’t take long for this story to reach the ears of other media. More than likely the local news stations would be breaking the news tonight. She had already gotten several calls from numbers she hadn’t known. Calls that she had let go to voicemail and listening to the messages left she had been relieved she had done just that. Telling her story to Quinn had been one thing. Grace wasn’t about to grant interviews with random reporters.

Since the simple ‘okay’ that Evan had sent last, Grace’s phone had been quiet. She was thankful for that. Though she had appreciated the support from Ashley, Naz, Keon and Wolf, right now she needed some time to herself. Time that she could simply feel what she needed to feel because when she returned to work on Saturday, Grace knew she would need to put up a strong front. She was going to face a lot of negative feedback on this and breaking down in front of her critics would only give them satisfaction.

It was why she had broken the dancing date with Evan tomorrow. Reporters would be looking for her. People would no doubt recognize her and be whispering and pointing. She felt bad enough about asking Evan to go dancing in front of Kabir in the first place. Yes, Evan had been the one that had suggested they go dancing sometime. She hadn’t doubted that he would say yes to the invitation. However, she had also known he knew that there was some type of history between her and Kabir. She had felt bad using Evan to send a message to Kabir that she truly was past him. Grace knew she owed Evan an apology and an explanation. The last thing she wanted to do was put him in the position of either being the one to break the date or be subjected to the attention she knew she was going to draw for awhile.

Grace knew that things had changed. She was even prepared for Evan to not be interested in her any longer. It shouldn’t surprise her. She had never had much luck in the relationship department.

Hugging her pillow close, Grace let the tears fall. She had been looking forward to going out with Evan. She had been flattered by his interest in her. She liked the way he treated her, as if he respected both her and her opinions. The fact that he had graciously accepted the invitation to join the group for a drink when she knew his intention had been for just the two of them to go out had told her a lot.

Whatever potential their relationship had, Grace had a feeling that was over now. Evan would see her differently now. At the very least, she figured he wouldn’t want to jeopardize his own job by being seen with her. At worst, she wouldn’t believe her. After all, Evan had said he had trained under Dr. Hamilton. He had praised the man. Grace knew there was a good chance that Evan would side with Dr. Hamilton and his fellow doctors.

The tears felt good. Like her tears and confession in Ashley’s bathtub, it felt like a release. This wasn’t how she wanted things to go but perhaps this was for the best. At least everything was out in the open now. Grace had to believe that it would hurt less now than if she had gotten to know Evan better.

A beep from her phone caught her attention. Wiping the tears away, Grace reached out for the phone. Seeing another text from Evan, Grace stared at the screen. Did he know? Had he seen the news headline?

With a shaking hand, Grace touched a finger to the screen to show the message.

_I believe you._

Grace wanted so much to take those three words at face value. More than anything, she wanted to know that she still had Evan’s support. He had helped her quite a bit in her transition to St. Mary’s. He had made her feel valued. His words had helped her to keep going on more than one occasion. To think she may have lost all of that, made more tears come to her eyes.

However, showing support through the relative privacy of a text and showing that same support in front of their co-workers were two different things. Grace knew that when faced with peer pressure of his own, Evan might find it easier to side with his fellow male doctors.

Placing her phone back on the coffee table, Grace decided she would leave things at that with Evan until she saw him in person. It would be much easier to get a read on the situation then. The last thing she wanted to do was set herself up for even more heartbreak.

Continuing to the ER, Evan sipped at the coffee he hadn’t planned on getting. He had simply been passing by the café when he had heard the remark made to Grace. Figuring that she might appreciate a friendly face, he had stepped into line behind her. Though he wasn’t sure how the interaction had gone, his compliment had sounded a bit lame to his own ears, at least Grace had left the café with a smile on her face. Evan figured that was worth something.

Reaching the ER, Evan headed for the desk. Getting report from the off going supervisor, Evan then posted the assignments for the other doctors. It wasn’t long before his responsibilities had pushed his encounter with Grace from his mind. That wasn’t to say he didn’t think about her throughout the day, because he did. He thought of her when word of Dr. Hamilton’s resignation as CEO made its way through emergeant staff. He thought about her when he heard two orderlies discussing her allegations against Dr. Hamilton. Stopping briefly beside the two men he had politely asked if there wasn’t something they were suppose to be doing. The two orderlies had quickly dispersed in opposite directions.

Not that they were the only two he had overheard talking about Grace. Others were as well. As Grace was back at work, he supposed it was to be expected. Nor did he find it unexpected that most of the conversations were not favorable to Grace. Not that he liked it. Evan put a stop to it when he could, even came to her defense on a couple of occasions. He also knew that if he was overhearing talk like this, Grace was facing similar situations on her assignment.

Evan hadn’t crossed paths with Grace again that day. He had managed to send her a quick ‘hang in there’ text in between suturing the finger of a man who had fileted his own finger instead of the fish he had caught and dealing with a puking eight-year-old. As the latter encounter had led to him having to change scrubs, Evan hadn’t hung around the hospital long after his shift ended. Not to mention, he had been afraid that if he hung around to long he would end up working more hours.

Knowing that Grace got off at eight that night, as they had been suppose to go dancing tonight, Evan had went home with the intention of calling Grace when her shift was over. However, upon reaching his apartment, Evan had showered, changed and sat down on the couch where he had promptly fallen asleep. Waking up a little before midnight, Evan knew it was too late to try calling Grace and had moved from the couch to his bed.

The next day was more of the same. It didn’t help that Sinead had taken time off. Sinead helped keep things running smoothly. Her absence made that fact all the mor apparent.

Evan had the evening shift that day, and Grace was already working by the time he arrived at the hospital. He had hoped to find time to find Grace before her shift ended but a call out made it another busy shift in the ER. By the time he was able to slip away for a break, Grace’s shift had been over for almost an hour.

Which was why he had been surprised to spot Grace standing out on a balcony as he walked by with his cup of coffee. As he hadn’t been paged back to the ER yet, Evan decided to make a detour.

“If I had known you were out here, I would have brought you a coffee,” Evan said as he approached Grace.

Grace turned slightly and looked in his direction as Evan approached. “If I had another coffee, my heart would probably explode,” she told him.

Evan nodded as he stepped up beside her. Looking out over the city he commented, “it’s been quite a day.”

“Quite a week,” Grace countered, a smile coming to her face.

“Quite a month,” Evan said, smiling himself.

“Should we keep going?” Grace asked, with a small laugh as they finally turned to face one another. “Hasn’t been all bad though,” she added. Her smile lit up her eyes. It was a sight that Evan liked to see.

“Grace, your shift was over an hour ago. What are you still doing here?”

“A patient of mine is in surgery. I want to be there when she wakes up,” Grace told him. She didn’t leave much of a pause before adding, “I know, I know, boundaries.”

“That’s not what I was thinking,” Evan told her and it truly wasn’t. Those boundaries were things you were told in the classroom that didn’t exactly work when you were doing this job. This job was about taking care of people. It was impossible to maintain the neat boundaries they told you to keep. “The day you’ve had, and you’re still all about your patients.”

“Evan, at the café, that thing you said about my hair. You have no idea what that meant to me. Thank-you.”

Evan couldn’t quite find his voice to say ‘you’re welcome’. However, he was relieved that his words had indeed made a difference.

However, as he stood there smiling, Grace closed the distance between them. Slowly, she leaned in toward him. Tilting his head, Evan lenaed toward her as well. Before their lips touched though, Grace let out a little gasp, pulling back.

“You’re not married, are you?” Grace asked.

“No,” Evan told her, briefly wondering why she had asked that question. Before he could think about it too long though, Grace leaned in again, pressing her lips against his.

Evan closed his eyes, savoring the moment. Even as he realized her lips felt every bit as soft and silky as he thought they would, he felt her fingertips on the side of his neck. Her touch felt like electricity.

Just as he had let Grace be the one to initiate the kiss, Evan allowed her to be the one to end it. Even as she pulled away, he left his eyes closed for a moment, committing the emotions he was feeling right then to memory. He wanted to remember their first kiss and all the details about it.

Opening his eyes, Evan found himself staring into Grace’s eyes. He realized that his left hand was resting on her waist, having found its way sometime during their kiss. As Grace didn’t seem bothered by it, he left it there as she asked, “how long have you wanted to do that?”

“The minute you walked in the door,” Evan admitted.

Grace smiled even as she leaned forward again, her lips finding his. Though this wasn’t what he had thought would happened when he walked out on the balcony, Evan didn’t mind this turn of events at all. Yes, Grace’s current situation was going to cause complications for their own relationship but Evan didn’t mind. With what little he knew about her, Evan knew that Grace was worth those complications. No matter what his colleagues reactions were, he planned to be at her side as long as she would let him.

The beep of his phone interrupted their second kiss. With a groan, he pulled back. Taking his hand from Grace’s waist, he reached for the phone in his pocket. Looking at it, he saw a message requesting his presence in the ER.

“Does duty call?” Grace asked.

“Unfortunately,” Evan replied, putting his phone away.

Grace nodded. “Go be someone else’s hero then,” she told him.

“I’d rather be yours,” Evan told her.

“You have been,” Grace told him. “Now go, before they start paging you over the PA system.”

Evan nodded before placing a last quick kiss on Grace’s cheek before heading back inside and back to the chaos of the ER.


End file.
